Maria Riesch of Germany beat Lindsey Vonn of the United States by nearly half a second in the final downhill of the season to keep the race for the overall title alive between the two Olympic champions and good friends. Vonn, who took gold in the Olympic downhill, could have clinched her third straight overall title Wednesday but she still retains a 225-point lead going into the final three races. A win is worth 100 points. “I haven't won it yet,” Vonn said. “It's not finished yet. It's still possible (for Riesch to win), it's unlikely but it's not finished.” Riesch claimed an emphatic victory on her home course, leaving Vonn and the rest of the field far behind. Vonn had already clinched the downhill title. “When I crossed the line I did not look at the board immediately but when I saw that I was more than a second ahead, I thought I could win this race,” said Riesch after her 14th career victory and fourth downhill win. “If Lindsey is half a second behind, I must have had a really good race,” said Riesch, who won slalom and combined gold medals at the Vancouver Olympics. Anja Paerson of Sweden was third, more than a second behind Riesch. Although Riesch cut Vonn's overall lead by 20 points, the German said she had given up hope of collecting that title. “I am still 200 points behind, I don't think it's possible. The pressure is off. I am proud of today's win, this is the course for next year's World Championship and it's good to know that I can be fast on it,” Riesch said. Vonn said she would have to “give my best” to win the overall title. “But if I collect points in the last three races I should be ahead. I don't need that many points. Maria had a super race today,” Vonn said. Vonn and Riesch have spent Christmas holidays together at the German's home in Garmisch-Partenkirchen Riesch came down the sun-drenched 2,920-meter long Kandahar course in one minute, 34.82 seconds. Vonn was .48 seconds behind and Paerson 1.13 back. Julia Mancuso of the United States, the Olympic silver medalist, finished fifth, while bronze medalist Elisabeth Goergl of Austria was the only racer to crash but appeared not to be hurt. Vonn clinched the downhill title last Saturday in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, which was her sixth downhill win of the season. She won all but two races. The American is also sure of the super-G title . Vonn is still nursing a sore right shin and a broken little finger on her right hand. She bruised the shin before the Olympics and broke the finger in a spill in the Olympic giant slalom. Vonn can become the American with the most World Cup wins this weekend. She is tied with Bode Miller with 32. Miller ended his season early to rest a sore right ankle and is not competing at the World Cup finals. The next race for the women is Thursday's giant slalom while the men have a super-G. Switzerland's Carlo Janka went back to the top of the overall World Cup standings by winning a thrilling downhill in which 0.07 seconds separated the top four. The Olympic giant slalom gold medallist beat Austria's Mario Scheiber by 0.02 seconds to set off a cacophony of cowbells and rattles among the Swiss fans and overhaul Benjamin Raich, who did not race, in the standings Erik Guay of Canada and Patrick Kueng of Switzerland finished joint third. Janka's win meant Austria's men completed the season without winning a downhill race. Janka is 54 points ahead of Austrian slalom specialist Raich with three races to go this week, all at Garmisch – the Super G, slalom and giant slalom.
